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International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2015 1 ISSN 2250-3153

A Survey on

Amandeep Kour

Assistant Professor, “Dept. of Computer Sciences and Engineering” Mahant Bachittar Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Babliana, Jammu (J&K) India

Abstract- Virtual is . Computers an architect, engineer, or interior designer working without a introduced us to the virtual world. In the virtual world one can graphics workstation. In the last years the stormy development of assume any identity and no one will be the wiser. Such identities microprocessor technology brings faster and faster computers to are called ‘avatars’. This is part of its attraction. But it also has the market. These machines are equipped with better and faster its dangers. Many youngsters today live more in the virtual world graphics boards and their prices fall down rapidly. It becomes than in the real world. This has made sociopaths out of some of possible even for an average user, to move into the world of them. They are so used to interacting with people in the virtual computer graphics. This fascination with a new (ir) reality often world that they no longer know how to interact with real people. starts with computer games and lasts forever. It allows to see the Virtual worlds like are becoming important tools surrounding world in other dimension and to experience things for, among other activities, socialization, social networking, that are not accessible in or even not yet created. entertainment, collaboration, and business development. These Moreover, the world of three-dimensional graphics has neither environments offer information systems researchers a unique borders nor constraints and can be created and manipulated by opportunity to study how these environments are built and ourselves as we wish – we can enhance it by a fourth dimension: managed by operators, how they are used and misused by users, the dimension of our imagination. and the impact that they have on users, communities, But not enough: people always want more. They want to step organizations, and societies at large. The paper provides an into this world and interact with it – instead of just watching a introduction to this topic and offers a survey on virtual worlds picture on the monitor. This technology which becomes based on insights offered by several academics and practitioners overwhelmingly popular and fashionable in current decade is who are actively involved in building, managing, and using called (VR). The very first idea of it was virtual worlds. presented by in 1965: “make that (virtual) world in the window look real, sound real, feel real, and respond Index Terms- virtual worlds, synthetic worlds, multi-user virtual realistically to the viewer’s actions” [Suth65]. It has been a long environments, online games, virtual reality, human computer time since then, a lot of research has been done and status quo: interaction, Second Life, research frameworks,v-CRM" (Virtual “the Sutherland’s challenge of the Promised Land has not been Customer Relationship Management). reached yet but we are at least in sight of it” [Broo95]. Let us have a short glimpse at the last three decades of research in virtual reality and its highlights [Bala93a, Cruz93a, I. INTRODUCTION Giga93a, Holl95]: hree-dimensional virtual worlds, also called synthetic • – in years 1960-1962 Morton Heilig created a T worlds, are multimedia, simulated environments, often multi-sensory simulator. A prerecorded film in color and stereo, managed over the Web, which users can “inhabit” and interact was augmented by binaural sound, scent, wind and vibration via their graphical self-representations known as “avatars.” In a experiences. This was the first approach to create a virtual reality virtual world, the users, represented as avatars, experience others system and it had all the features of such an environment, but it as being present in the same environment, or “being was not interactive. together” even though they are geographically distributed. Users • The Ultimate Display – in 1965 Ivan Sutherland proposed converse in real time through gestures, audio, text-based chat and the ultimate solution of virtual reality: an artificial world instant messaging (e.g. Meadows, 2008). These construction concept that included interactive graphics, force- virtual worlds support communication and collaboration more feedback, sound, smell and taste. effectively than two-dimensional web-based environments by • “The Sword of Damocles” – the first virtual reality system extending the user’s ability to employ traditional communication realized in hardware, not in concept. Ivan Sutherland constructs a cues of face-to-face interactions such as gestures, voice, having device considered as the first Head Mounted Display (HMD), visual presence and mutual awareness in real time, and sounds, in with appropriate head tracking. It supported a stereo view that a way that two-dimensional (web-based) environments do not was updated correctly according to the user’s head position and (Bronack, et al., 2008; Eschenbrenner, et al., 2008). Today orientation. virtual worlds are being used in many applications: education • GROPE – the first prototype of a force-feedback system and training, social networking, entertainment, gaming, realized at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in 1971. marketing, and commerce. • VIDEOPLACE – created in 1975 by Nowadays computer graphics is used in many domains of Myron Krueger – “a conceptual environment, with no existence”. our life. At the end of the 20th century it is difficult to imagine In this system the silhouettes of the users grabbed by the cameras

www.ijsrp.org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2015 2 ISSN 2250-3153 were projected on a large screen. The participants were able to These environments have been designed for a variety of interact one with the other thanks to the image processing functions as well as a diverse set of target markets. Environments techniques that determined their positions in 2D screen’s space. such as Second Life, There, and are general • VCASS – Thomas Furness at the US Air Force’s purpose and targeted to adults, while other environments such as Armstrong Medical Research Laboratories developed in 1982 the Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK.com), General Mill’s Visually Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator – an advanced Millsberry, and Sulake Labs’ Habbo Hotel are focused on flight simulator. The fighter pilot wore a HMD that augmented specific ages, demographics, and functional applications. the out-the window view by the graphics describing targeting or Virtual reality (VR) is not a new concept. The origins of VR optimal flight path information. can be traced as far back at least as “The Ultimate Display” [85], • VIVED – Virtual Visual Environment Display – a seminal paper by Ivan Sutherland that introduced the key constructed at the NASA Ames in 1984 with off-the-shelf concepts of immersion in a simulated world, and of complete technology a stereoscopic monochrome HMD. sensory input and output, which are the basis of current virtual • VPL – the VPL company manufactures the popular Data reality research. The following challenge was set: Glove (1985) and the Eye phone HMD (1988) – the first The screen is a window through which one sees a virtual commercially available VR devices. world. The challenge is to make that world look real, act real, • BOOM – commercialized in 1989 by the Fake Space Labs. sound real, and feel real [85]. BOOM is a small box containing two CRT monitors that can be Sutherland’s challenge, which can be summarized as viewed through the eye holes. The user can grab the box, keep it offering presence simulation to users as an interface metaphor to by the eyes and move through the virtual world, as the a synthesized world, has become the research agenda for a mechanical arm measures the position and orientation of the box. growing community of researchers and industries. The • UNC Walkthrough project – in the second half of 1980s at motivation for such a research direction is twofold. From an the University of North Carolina an architectural walkthrough evolutionary perspective, virtual reality is seen as a way to application was developed. Several VR devices were constructed overcome limitations of standard human-computer interfaces; to improve the quality of this system like: HMDs, optical from a revolutionary perspective, virtual reality technology opens trackers and the Pixel-Plane graphics engine. the door to new types of applications that exploit the possibilities • Virtual Wind Tunnel – developed in early 1990s at the offered by presence simulation. NASA Ames application that allowed the observation and investigation of flow-fields with the help of BOOM and Data 2. What is Virtual Reality (VR)? What is Not Virtual Reality? Glove. Virtual Reality (VR), also known as 'artificial reality', • CAVE – presented in 1992 CAVE (CAVE Automatic 'artificial worlds', 'virtual worlds', 'virtualities', is a fully- Virtual Environment) is a virtual reality and scientific immersive, absorbing, interactive experience of an alternate visualization system. Instead of using a HMD it projects reality through the use of a computer structure in which a person stereoscopic images on the walls of room (user must wear LCD perceives a synthetic (i.e., simulated) environment by means of shutter glasses). This approach assures superior quality and special human-computer interface equipment and interacts with resolution of viewed images, and wider field of view in simulated objects in that environment as if they were real. comparison to HMD based systems. Several persons can see one another and interact in a shared • (AR) – a technology that “presents a synthetic environment. virtual world that enriches, rather than replaces the real world” Many people, mainly the researchers use the term Virtual [Brys92c]. This is achieved by means of see-through HMD that Environments instead of Virtual Reality “because of the hype superimposes virtual three-dimensional objects on real ones. This and the associated unrealistic expectations” [Giga93a]. technology was previously used to enrich fighter pilot’s view Moreover, there are two important terms that must be mentioned with additional flight information (VCASS). Thanks to its great when talking about VR: and . They are potential – the enhancement of human vision – augmented reality both tightly coupled with VR, but have a slightly different became a focus of many research projects in early 1990s. context: • Telepresence – is a specific kind of virtual reality that simulates a real but remote (in terms of distance or scale) II. BACKGROUND environment. Another more precise definition says that Virtual worlds are increasing in popularity and have telepresence occurs when “at the work site, the manipulators garnered significant attention from the public at large, from have the dexterity to allow the operator to perform normal human businesses and other organizations, and from scholars in functions; at the control station, the operator receives sufficient disciplines as diverse as law, sociology, psychology, math, and, quantity and quality of sensory feedback to provide a feeling of more recently, information systems. Virtual worlds are growing actual presence at the worksite” [Held92]. not only in popularity but also in numbers. While no reliable • Cyberspace – was invented and defined by statistics are yet compiled on the industry, hundreds of publicly as “a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of accessible virtual worlds exist (e.g., visit legitimate operators (...) a graphics representation of data www.virtualworldreview.com for a list of only a few such abstracted from the banks of every computer in human system” environments) and firms like Forterra Systems [Gibs83]. Today the term Cyberspace is rather associated with (www.forterrainc.com/) build and manage countless numbers of entertainment systems and World Wide Web (). private virtual worlds used for corporate or military applications.

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III. THE PERSPECTIVES rewards for obtaining power, virtual worlds provide more The following includes remarks summarizing the attractive areas for power and influence struggles. presentations made by the panelists. The majority of the panelists Edward M. Roche and John Lester: An Overview of the included comments about their individual presentations as well Summer Meeting’s Research Roadmap as about questions that were addressed to them by the audience. Virtual worlds offer a broad range of research opportunity. David Bray and Benn Konsynski: Structure and On one hand, there are many issues that are IT related. These Organization of Virtual Worlds concern the underlying technology infrastructure and how it is Who’s running the Show? Governance of Virtual Worlds: designed and managed. But the research does not stop here. More than 15 million people now inhabit virtual worlds. In There also are legal, psychological, sociological, media and this section, we consider the question of who really is “in business strategy issues on the horizon. Even national security control” in virtual worlds: real-world organizations or virtual might be involved (Roche, 2008). Recent press reports have citizens? warned about possible international criminal and terrorism issues Since most virtual worlds are operated by a single real-world that may arise from virtual worlds. So there is a broad range of firm, to date the answer to who is in control has been the private, concern and thus an ample field from which to pick a research real-world firm hosting the virtual world. Dotsoul.com and other topic. The following is a synopsis of the research issues open-source efforts provide intriguing virtual worlds attempting discussed at ICIS. to empower the virtual participants themselves to help define property rights and rules. Other virtual worlds clearly are focused Technology Performance of Virtual Worlds: on corporate ownership and profit. Free and unregulated virtual The evidence thus far indicates that virtual worlds do not worlds can be problematic, as the chief virtue of Second Life is scale very well. When too many avatars attempt to participate at also its most glaring flaw: Everyone is free to create anything once, responsiveness lags, and rendering of the environment they like, which can result in ugly sprawl and ugly developments. becomes more problematical. In our meeting at Columbia A potential parallel “Tragedy of the Commons” could arise in University, even with an Internet bandwidth of 100Mbps+, we virtual worlds [Dawes et al. 1986; Ostrom 1991; Hof 2006a]. were experiencing up to a 20-second delay in audio between our Yet recent activities have shown a maturing in virtual live audience and the avatars who were joining the meeting. This worlds, as virtual designers like Anshe Chung and Aimee Weber may indicate that a variety of technical issues have not been begin to realize that their virtual customers want some order and solved in the design of the application. What are the methods of regulation. Real-world corporations are asking Second Life to optimizing performance? How can required network capacity be consider more regulation to ensure the stability of the Linden defined as a function of virtual world loading of avatars? What is dollar before they invest further in a virtual world. It could be the optimum partitioning of space? How is response time that a combination of virtual citizens and businesses in virtual determined, and what is its psychological optimum? What are worlds may endogenously produce additional laws and hybrid, variations in design that yield different performance levels? How inter-world social institutions designed to stabilize virtual worlds much is cached on the local end-user device? What is the most [Kharif 2006]. efficient graphics rendering system? What algorithms can be We posit that virtual worlds represent an interesting discovered to help a virtual world adjust to rapid and dramatic intersection of three parties wrestling for power, influence, and changes in the number of participants at any one time? Finally, authority in these relatively new spaces (Figure 1). Specifically, there is an important research discussion around technical these parties are: (1) corporations, representing virtual businesses standards for virtual worlds. Will Open Source gain ground? (V-BIZ) to include economic and business interests; (2) How will standards emerge and what should they be? There is, of governments, representing virtual governments (V-GOV) to course, a theory that explains emergence of standards, but no one include political and legal interests; and (3) voxpopuli , yet has applied it to virtual worlds. representing a heterogeneous third party, distinct in its dissociation from either corporate or government interests, and Defining the Entry Strategy: instead attempting to speak on behalf of “digital citizens” in If a firm (or any organization) decides to take the plunge into virtual worlds. virtual worlds, what paradigm do they use to make the decision We also posit that these three parties—as they wrestle for (Roche 2007)? Expending whatever resources will be required power, influence, and authority in virtual worlds— embody must be justified to management, but how? Several paradigms similar (though less pronounced) struggles for power, influence, fit. First Mover Advantage theory might be used. A firm may and authority as in the real world. Virtual worlds, due to their wish to move into virtual worlds to preclude any advantage that newness and digitally liberating features, including anonymity its competitor might obtain by getting there first. But does the and dissociation with physical form, present relatively less first mover advantage really exist for virtual worlds? Professor pronounced consequences for actors (versus the real world). Yet Clemmons' Competitive Necessity Theory [Clemons 1991] also the power-based outcomes obtained in virtual worlds represent may be applicable. If a firm's competitors move into a space, and salient economic and legal influences; to wit, Second Life sees gain an advantage, then this forces the firm to follow, or lose the an average of $70 million real U.S. dollars spent monthly. advantage. This is even more compelling if the competitor is Given fewer adverse consequences for losers (i.e., reduced picking up new customers. But have we seen real competitive risk to both individuals and institutions), combined with salient advantage yet in virtual worlds? If not, why? If not yet, then when? Another perspective is simply R&D experimentation.

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Most firms have an experimental arm, and several are from the ages of 8-13. Some are being rolled out for the elderly experimenting with virtual worlds. The majority of firms have an or for veterans with serious injuries. At the ICIS meeting, John entry strategy that is exploratory in nature. They can test new Lester from demonstrated how severely handicapped products and ideas. An important research question would be to people are using Second Life to "live a life they really want." examine and address the entry strategy problem. The research question centers around how to make the choice. Does one use a psycho-graphic approach and attempt to Defining the Corporate Purpose: match your customer profile against a particular virtual world? Is Closely related to strategy is the question of purpose, or a portfolio approach best; i.e., where bets are made on several application. Already researchers have identified a range of virtual worlds, perhaps for different customer segments? Is it possibilities. Some firms are using virtual worlds simply as a better to choose a virtual world that is completely private, "showcase." They build a presence to show off, even if it is for operating as a closed community under your control, or one open the time being merely a cost write-off. Others are focusing on to the public? What are the pros and cons of each alternative? advertising. Panasonic constantly runs video commercials inside Certainly research needs to apply what we know about Second Life. But where are the advertising metrics? What type of decision theory to these questions. Essentially, there is a need to consumer lurks behind the avatars? Are they middle-aged, living match two sets of factors: those describing the adopter, and those in suburbs with two kids, driving an SUV, watching a DVD describing the virtual world. But what factors? Here is where the player, and earning an income of $65,000 to $150,000 per year? inherent "social encoding" of virtual worlds comes into play. No one really knows, and until researchers find ways to Virtual worlds are 100-percent engineered environments, and understand this, it is difficult to predict how well advertising will nothing is random. The researcher must understand how the work, at least advertising as we know it now. virtual world is programmed to work, e.g., what avatars can do Another application is "v-commerce" or "v-customer and not do and why. A general model is needed that maps virtual service", including "v-CRM" (Virtual Customer Relationship world characteristics against adopter needs. Management). The idea is to service your customers in a virtual world, or enable them to establish "customer communities." But 3. The future of VR there are a host of problems researchers need to solve. One issue The future of every new technology, including virtual is how to verify if the really is your customer, and thus reality, must be considered in two different aspects: entitled to see private or sensitive information on their account. technological and social. Technological aspects include new There is also the accompanying slew of issues around cost and research directions and potential use of them for scientific aims. efficiency; that is, can a virtual world be as efficient as a call Social aspects include the influence of new inventions on people: center? individuals and society as a whole. Globalization of operations is a fact of life. Some firms view 3.1. Research directions in VR virtual worlds as a new way to improve their global operations The idea of the ultimate virtual environment as stated by by serving as a new collaboration platform to help coordination. Sutherland [Suth65] means that VR should be indistinguishable Here, the theory is simply the old story of using a new from “real” reality (RR). Most of today’s VR applications do not technology to improve operations. But does anyone yet have conform to reality and have poor quality, but are still very useful evidence on this? and persuasive. Without doubt VR has a big potential, but must be improved a lot to allow more comfortable and intuitive Who Is in Charge? interaction with virtual worlds. It does not have to simulate For those interested in the organizational theory of the firm, reality in every inch of existence: for training, the simulation virtual worlds raise many issues. How does one manage a virtual should closely match real operating conditions, while e.g., in the world? Is it done with a corporate committee? If so, who is on it? UNC’s nanomanipulator application we do not even have any Does the Internet portal team already in place take the lead? Is it reference to reality (since humans cannot experience the a sales and marketing issue? Does the corporate strategy group interaction with molecules in real life). get involved? Perhaps different groups are involved at different Independently from the application and its purpose, human stages of the process; first strategy, then an IT or customer factors must be considered or the system will fail to be service operations group after the virtual world is set up and sufficiently comfortable and intuitive. There is need for running? Who will manage and underwrite the budget? What mechanisms allowing people to easily adapt themselves and their does Legal need to review and approve? Perhaps by using a behavior from VR to reality and vice versa. To address these series of case studies, researchers could get a sense of how this is requirements better than current systems do, a lot of research done, and how it best can be done. For the time being, however, must be carried out and new technologies must be developed most firms are flying blind and need research to point the way. [Fuch92, Broo94]. Therefore Andries van Dam called VR a Selecting the Right Virtual World: “forcing function” [VanD93]. One team of IBM employees has been quoted as saying that 3.1.1. Ergonomics of visual displays they were researching “more than 1,000” virtual worlds. Others Up to now, the major interest was paid to visual feedback are reporting a smaller number of environments. We may not and visual display technologies. Nevertheless the quality of know the exact number, but there is agreement that virtual nowadays shipped HMDs is far from ideal: resolution is worlds are highly differentiable. Some like Second Life and significantly below eye’s resolving capability, luminance and have broad appeal, at least for now. Others color ranges do not cover the whole eye’s perception range are being developed for the military. Some appeal to children (brightness range and gamut respectively), and finally the field of

www.ijsrp.org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2015 5 ISSN 2250-3153 view is relatively narrow. All these disadvantages make virtual explore. You may interact with its elements, perhaps even worlds appear “artificial” and unreal, which severely contributes change them. You may enter a sculpture gallery and interact with to the simulator sickness. the art pieces. You will actually become part of the art as you Despite continuous improvement of operational parameters, interact with it. LCD- and CRT-based HMDs (currently at 1280x1024 resolution Busines:. Already, several companies have created three- on 1.2”x1” area [Burd94]) will not offer the ultimate quality. To dimensional visualizations of the stock market. The stocks overcome these miniaturization problems a competitive solution appear as upright cylinders (like a stack of poker chips) on a was presented recently by HITLab – a three-dimensional grid representing different sectors of the [Koll93, Tidw95]. It uses a laser beam that projects images market. The cylinders (each with a company logo) will rise and directly on the user’s retina. Nowadays this technology offers fall with stock prices and spin at different speeds as an indication approximately the quality of an average LCD screen. Yet, it is of each stock's sales activity. With this arrangement, a stock very promising: theoretical limits of such displays are essentially broker or analyst can quickly see patterns for a market sector as a equal to the limits of the human eye. whole, as well as the activity of specific stocks. A click on a An alternative approach for presenting images to VR user(s) company's cylinder can bring in-depth information to the screen are large projection screens. Images can be seen with bare eyes, and give the broker an opportunity to rapidly buy or sell a stock. have better brightness and resolution than typical HMDs. Stereo The use of virtual reality in stock market trading will greatly viewing is possible with light and comfortable LCD shutter- or increase in the future. Those companies trading on various stock polarization-glasses. For the full immersion (360˚ look around) markets globally will require this virtual-reality application to CAVE-type displays or recently introduced domed projection identify trends and make trades more rapidly. They will, in fact, screens can be used [Lant95]. Toshiba Corporation has lately be interacting with the stock market in real time. Their work will developed a “volume scanning” display consisting of many slices be much like playing a large and complex . of semi-transparent LCD screens. This new technology allows Some virtual-reality developers have been working three-dimensional viewing of stereoscopic images without any on a product called Flow Sheet. It will be like a spreadsheet, but additional equipment [Kame92, Kame93]. will show more than mere numbers displayed in two-dimensional columns and rows. Rather, it will give a three-dimensional depiction of numbers with varying sizes, shapes, colors, and IV. VIRTUAL REALITY APPLICATIONS, TODAY AND spatial relationships. In the future, Flow Sheets will allow for TOMORROW much clearer and quicker analysis of alternatives, relationships, Architecture and construction: Virtual reality is already and trends. showing its potential in the architecture and construction Still other software developers are considering the benefits industries. A building can be created as a navigable, interactive, of creating Dataspaces, a step beyond the database. Like the and immersive experience while still being designed, so that both Flow Sheet, Dataspaces represents information sources as objects architect and client can experience the structure and make that differ in size, color, shape, and spatial relationships. You changes before construction begins. It has been said that every will surf through information in a world of three-dimensional building built today is actually a physical prototype, leaving little objects, selecting the information you need by clicking on the room for input or changes until after construction. Virtual reality appropriate one. In the next few years, you will be able to would allow for an electronic prototype to be created and conduct this kind of search on the Internet using a recently modified, so that costly changes during or after construction are accepted standard called Virtual Reality Modeling Language avoided. (VRML). In the future, clients will want to experience their house or Using a combination of the Flow Sheet, Dataspaces, and building in virtual reality before final designs are completed and other virtual- reality software, companies will be able to simulate construction begins. Beyond today's capabilities, clients will not their entire operation. Different aspects of operation, such as only be able to see the structure, but hear sounds from within it, production, inventory, sales, and productivity, can be represented feel its textures, and experience its fragrances. Home builders in three dimensions for analysis. Various "what-if" scenarios and real-estate developers are particularly excited about the could be proposed. A company could also use this system to potential of virtual reality to sell their designs. Why build watch its actual operation in real time rather than in simulation. expensive model homes or demonstration spaces when Disabilities: Several organizations, such as Prairie Software prospective buyers can see the range of options electronically? and Hines Veterans' Hospital in Illinois, are experimenting with City planners will use virtual reality to consider various changes virtual reality to confirm the accessibility of buildings for people in the community, greatly assisting the work of zoning and with disabilities. One university, Oregon Research Institute, has planning boards. created a program that teaches children to operate wheelchairs. Art: At present, you can "virtually" visit a number of actual Another, the University of Dayton, is using virtual reality to train art galleries and museums via the Internet. Recently, the mentally retarded students how to ride a bus. Just beginning are Guggenheim and other museums conducted special exhibits of many other applications aimed at allowing people with virtual-reality art works. disabilities to experience worlds they cannot currently explore Virtual reality will change our conception of what due to their physical limitations. constitutes art. A work of art may become a physically navigable, In the future, it will be standard procedure, if not mandatory, interactive, and immersive experience. You may travel into a to use virtual reality in private homes and public places to test virtual painting, which will actually be a mini-world foryou to accessibility before plans are approved. People with disabilities

www.ijsrp.org International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2015 6 ISSN 2250-3153 will be able to visit new areas virtually before they visit them in dramatically. Current systems are primitive, due to a lack of the everyday world. They will also be able to experience skiing, computing power and the high cost of most virtual-reality hang gliding, and other sports in virtual worlds. equipment, but advanced virtual reality is set to invade the home entertainment scene in the years ahead. While stand-alone Education and training: VR is just beginning to be applied entertainment systems will be offered, perhaps the most in education and training. Students can study anatomy or explore important form of home VR will come over the Internet, and our galaxy. Some training applications relate to health and safety. with it the potential for virtual reality to promote human One application from World Builder of Rochester, New York, interaction over wide distances. allows trainees to walk through a virtual factory and learn about Imagine an adventure game in which you are immersed in a health hazards­a more engaging experience than reading a three-dimensional world, interacting with other participants. It manual or attending a lecture. can become a real, role-playing event. Imagine a movie in which In the future, students will be able to learn through studying you are a participant interacting with the plot and other in virtual worlds. Chemistry students will be able to conduct characters. While these kinds of entertainment have been seen as experiments without risking an accidental explosion in the lab. separating participants in the past, in the future they may be seen Astronomy students will be able to visit a range of virtual as a new kind of socializing, one which may lead to richer galaxies to study their properties. History students will be able to relationships in the "real" world. visit different historical events and perhaps even participate in the action with historical figures. English students could be on Marketing: Virtual reality is just beginning to be used by stage at the Globe Theater as it was when Shakespeare's plays companies who want customers to experience their products and were first presented. They will also be able to enter into a book to understand them better. They've found that a new technology, and interact with its characters. such as virtual reality, draws people to their exhibits and involves Virtual reality will also be used in teaching adults. Trainees them with a product much more than standard displays. in a wide variety of environments will be able to safely try out Cabletron, a cable network company in Rochester, New new techniques. They will be able to learn by doing tasks Hampshire, has customers travel through their network virtually. virtually before applying them in the real world. They will use Sopporo, a beer company in Japan, allows customers to visit its these practice tasks in hazardous environs and also practice production plant to experience the beer-making process in virtual dealing with emergencies on the job. However, much remains to reality. be done to bring virtual reality fully into the classroom or the In the future, virtual reality will be used to develop and test training facility. products with much greater customer involvement. A company will be able to create products, gain customer feedback, and then Engineering: Engineers of all descriptions are already using modify the products much more rapidly and inexpensively. The virtualreality simulations to create and test prototypes. Each of prototype will only be an electronic idea that they can directly the Big Three automakers is using some form of virtual reality to test before creating the physical product. This electronic test new models. In the aerospace industry, the new Boeing 777 prototyping may also lead to individualized products that are was the first aircraft to be designed and tested using virtual- portrayed in virtual reality, customized by the individual, and reality technology. then transmitted electronically to a production facility. Physical prototypes take a great deal of time to produce and are very costly. Changes to electronic or simulated prototypes Medicine: Virtual reality is just beginning to be used in can be done rapidly and inexpensively, shortening development medicine and medical research. The University of North Carolina time. Hoping to save money in prototyping and avoid cost (UNC) uses it in biochemical engineering. They test the docking overruns, the U.S. military has even coined the phrase, "Sim it of molecules using visual and auditory displays and a force- before you build it!" feedback device. Virtual reality is also being used at UNC and In the future, nearly every engineering pursuit will use other locations to practice aiming X-rays before cancer virtual-reality prototypes so that designs can be shared, treatments of that type are performed. Several companies, such evaluated, and modified with input from both co-workers and as High Techsplanations of Rockville, Maryland, and Ciné-med customers. Even the manufacturing process and expected repairs of Woodbury, Connecticut, are creating virtual bodies, a kind of will be simulated, saving money and aggravation. Given "body electronic," to enhance medical training. advances in electronic networks, virtual work benches will be In the future, medical students will study anatomy by created with engineers in distant locations around the globe dissecting virtual cadavers­a much more cost effective and working in teams to design products. efficient way of studying the human body. Medical students and surgeons will practice virtual surgery before attempting a new Entertainment: Virtual reality is already being applied in procedure. They may even practice an operation for a specific entertainment. Location-based entertainment centers are cropping patient, whose unique body characteristics have been scanned up in major cities around the globe and traveling virtual-reality into the computer. Different diseases and medical emergencies entertainment shows are on the road. Soon, nearly all video can also be simulated to test a medical student's or doctor' s arcades will be VR centers; all games will be 3-D, interactive, knowledge regarding treatment. and immersive. On a different front, virtual reality could be used for While the number of such entertainment centers will treatments in guided visualization. Patients could use virtual increase in the future, home-based virtual reality will also grow reality to assist in visualizing a part of their body for healing.

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Likewise, virtual reality could help improve relaxation These are just some present and future applications of virtual techniques, providing a pleasant world in which to relax. reality. As you can see, there are many potential applications for virtual reality. Perhaps, in the future, we will only be limited by Military: One of the first applications of virtual reality was our imagination regarding the uses of virtual reality. Virtual in flight simulators. Today, these applications are used not only reality is neither good nor bad. It is a new tool that will have for aircraft simulation, but also for ships, tanks, and infantry important implications in our future. maneuvers. With the advent of networked virtual reality, the U.S. In working in the field of virtual reality, I have found a very military is able to stage SimNet tank battles between various important aspect of it that is often overlooked. In order to create military installations around the world over what it calls the virtual worlds, one must have an in-depth understanding of how "Defense Simulation Internet." First used extensively in the Gulf our everyday world works. Perhaps one of virtual reality's War, SimNet allowed nearly every flight and battle to be greatest gifts will be helping us to understand better our own conducted in virtual reality before the real war began. Records of reality. Gulf War events have themselves been turned into a large-scale simulation that can test the skill of military leaders and soldiers. Examples In the future, every aspect of warfare will be practiced in Students on Mars [2007] simulation before being conducted in a real-world situation. The students stand on the surface of Mars, surveying the Simulations will become so real, it will become impossible to landscape with their all-terrain vehicle beside them. They have to distinguish the real from the simulated. While there are dangers identify the unusual rock formations before them, the ones with here in misunderstanding the real from the simulated, it may also hues of orange and purple. A deep valley with a jagged rim is off be possible for combatants to see the folly of their aggression to their left. They have to check their map of Mars to find its before a conflict begins. Perhaps we could substitute a virtual name and mark its coordinates. They leap into the vehicle and war for a real one. move toward the towering mountain ahead. Colors of the planet's surface and their perspectives change as they look around. Their Religion:At present, religion does not seem to be making leader challenges them to identify their surroundings. much use of virtual reality. However, there is potential for VR in All of a sudden, a voice comes over their headphones­"Time both religious education and experience. One Christian religious to return to Earth." Removing their virtual-reality glasses, the denomination reportedly has been having discussions with a students are back in the classroom lab. The voice is that of their virtual-reality developer about creating biblical scenes in virtual teacher. "Remember to be ready for your Mars terrain test reality. One author, Richard V. Kelly of Digital Equipment tomorrow," he says. "You will be quizzed on the details of what Corporation, has proposed the creation of religious experiences you have just seen." from all of the world's various religions. These sixth-grade students are studying science using virtual In the future, we can expect to see an array of religious reality in their classroom. They have traveled virtually to study experiences via virtual reality. A Christian student may be able to Mars on PlaNet, a communication and educational network. experience being at the Sermon on the Mount or even the While no human has actually gone to Mars yet, several orbiting Crucifixion, among other events in that faith's history. He or she probes have mapped the terrain and a robotic roving vehicle on could also explore events in Judaism or Buddhism. Even more the surface has provided live pictures. These visualizations are profound mystical experiences, such as the prophecies of Ezekiel turned into a virtual-reality visualization of the red planet for or a revelation from eastern religions, could be created in virtual scientific and educational purposes. It is an experience that they worlds. will never forget. Sex. Virtual sex is a hot topic. It has been labeled The students are particularly excited because, in the next teledildonics by several authors. At least one virtual-reality year, a new rover will land on Mars and offer live tours of company, Thinking Software of Woodside, New York, is selling additional regions of the planet's surface through virtual reality's a "cybersex machine," and there are some multimedia sexual "telepresence." They will actually be able to maneuver the experiences that come close to virtual reality. These products are vehicle across the planet to explore its secrets. Stereo cameras not very advanced, however, and many obstacles must be will transmit the rover's travels back to Earth while they control overcome to produce a satisfying tactile experience. But expect its path. They will move in any direction, zoom in on interesting great strides to be made in creating advanced "sex machines" finds, and map the terrain more carefully. In a sense, they will be using virtual-reality technology. There is too much potential exploring Mars just as they expect live humans will in the next profit in these applications for them not to be pursued. 20 years. Today's lesson will help prepare them for that event. In the future, virtual sex will be either a stand-alone or networked experience. Expect virtual reality to be used in Vira's New Home [2006] treating sexual dysfunction, communing with a loved one at a Vira carefully inspects her new house with her architect and distance, and for sexual exploration or, unfortunately, contractor. The spaces that her architect had designed seem fine, exploitation. Today's 900 number hotlines and sex sites on the except that the kitchen counters are in the wrong place. With her Internet will be tame by comparison. Expect major controversy architect's help, she rearranges the counters until they meet her over this topic from lawmakers, religious groups, and proponents needs. They walk through the rest of the house, inspecting its of family values. various spaces and the flow between spaces. Vira turns on the entertainment system and considers how various sounds will 4.1 The Promise of Virtual Reality travel throughout the house.

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Vira rearranges the furniture in her living room to see how it Avatar (a virtual representation of a being) on the screen to guide could take advantage of natural light and the lamps that she has his journey. Everything is displayed in three dimensions and Bob chosen. She views and feels the textures of her couch. She even is able to interact with the environment in an immersed state. goes into her bedroom and considers how the light would strike it Having finished his work, George provides Bob with a recently at various times of the day during different seasons. She is created virtual relaxation experience that would relieve Bob's particularly pleased when she looks out the windows into the stress and speed his journey to Hong Kong. garden that she will have below. Turning to her architect and her contractor, Vira says, "I like the house. You can make the changes I noted and build it now. Thank you for showing me V. CONCLUDING COMMENTS exactly what the house will be like. I could never have While virtual worlds have been on the developmental radar understood it from your floor plans." for some time, it is only recently that the critical convergence of They step out of the VR Cave into her architect's office and technical capacity and developer interest have enabled the flip a switch. Vira's "house" disappears behind them. Four blank creation of virtual worlds capable of attracting participants from walls, a floor, and a ceiling are all that remain. Vira has the broader population. The current models of virtual worlds, in participated in the design of her house using virtual reality and both the social networking and gaming domains, offer relatively has inspected the house before it is even built. The changes she attractive and easy to use platforms that have created makes are automatically transferred into construction documents, demonstrable public interest in the virtual world phenomenon. which in turn are translated into a set of building materials with a As participation continues to increase, and as technologies make new cost estimate for her approval. It is "as if" she has already these worlds ever more accessible, the scale and scope of lived in the house. research opportunity and market exploitation grow exponentially. The research questions articulated here, hopefully, anticipate the My Company, Live and Virtual [2010] emerging importance of the phenomenon and provide a rough Bob eases into his seat on the plane and pulls out his schematic for its exploration. computer, connects his headset, and switches it on. A figure in the form of his assistant, George, pops onto the headset's screen, appearing just as he had seen him 20 minutes ago. "Where would REFERENCES you like to go?" asks George. Bob replies, "Take me to the Dallas plant." [1] Brian E. Mennecke(AKA – Gut Noel) In an instant, the factory is before him, just as it would [2] Castronova, E. (2005). “Real Products in Imaginary Worlds,”Harvard Business Review, May 2005, pp. 20-22. appear if he were overlooking it from a platform. Display boxes [3] F. Brooks Jr.: Realizing Virtual Worlds. EUROGRAPHICS’95 invited talk appear to the side of the visualization, showing him the plant's (1995) activity. " George, please focus on inventory and show me [4] Kharif, O. (2006). “Big Media Gets a Second Life, ”BusinessWeek. today's flow of parts. Then, overlay the plan on our actual flow." Retrieved June 1 2007 from The visualization shows him that they are right on target. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2006/tc20061017_12 "Thanks, George," he says. "No need to run a simulation to 7435.htm [5] Knoll, A. (2007). “Guest Editor's Introduction: Toward High-Definition improve our flow. We have just enough parts to complete the Telepresence, “Presence: Tele operators & Virtual Environments, (16)5, pp. next cycle." Bob had worried that they had understocked parts at i–iii. the distant assembly plant, but a plea to his associates in recent [6] R. Koch: 3-D Scene Modeling from Stereoscopic Image Sequences. had corrected the potentially damaging Proceedings European Workshop on Combined Real and Synthetic Image situation. Processing for Broadcast and Video Production - MONA LISA, VAP Media Center, Hamburg (1994). "Now George, would you take me to that relaxation program you've been raving about?" Bob lays his head back on the seat cushion as a scene on a beach in Tahiti surrounds his consciousness. The sun is shining, the sand is warm, and the AUTHORS wind blows softly. Bob hears the sound of waves lapping on the First Author – Amandeep kour received her M.Tech Degree beach. He feels far away from the cold winds of the Chicago from Lovely professional university. She is currently working as winter he has just left. Assistant Professor CSE Department .in M.B.S.C.E.T, Bob has traveled to one of his distant manufacturing plants Jammu, (J&K) India. using virtual reality. He has connected through the VR SatNet and used his computer agent George, appearing in the form of an

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